NEW YORK CITY— Over 100 transit workers and supporters rallied today in a show of unity and opposition to the racist MTA bosses and the givebacks in their contract proposal. Working over five months without a contract, this rally was also a criticism of the do-nothing union leaders. They tell the members nothing about the contract except that negotiations are ongoing. Many workers are fed up.
With this rally we exerted a little working class power. Mainly rank and file members led it from several different departments. They spoke about the deplorable working conditions on the job. They spoke of plantation justice which means heavy punishments for the smallest infractions, mostly caused by the bosses’ speed up of train service. They spoke of the need to build rider and MTA worker unity against the MTA bosses and Governor Cuomo. After the rally, over 50 workers marched into the ongoing board meeting of the bosses and the room of suits became very uncomfortable. They started shuffling papers and fidgeting in their seats, and all their talks ended with how they have respect for the workforce. One worked yelled LIES! As they continued their presentation it was met with workers openly responding, “That’s a LIE!, which company?” There were jeers, boos and laughter.
We need frequent and bigger actions like this, not only to win our demands, but also to get off the capitalist treadmill of constantly fighting just to keep afloat. The MTA bosses are after our pay and benefits again. Their contract demands attack our health benefits, our sick and vacation time, and our job security. This further angered workers.  As we fight for a better contract, we must also fight to get rid of this capitalist system once and for all. Workers cannot only organize rallies and strikes; we can run all of society. That’s communism. Join the fight.
This rally originated at departmental union meetings. A proposal was passed to have a rally and action on September 25 in front of the MTA headquarters and attend their monthly board meeting after. However, the union leadership rejected the proposal and countered with a rally on October 30th at 5pm, citing the need for more time to organize the entire union. Many members questioned this move, since the MTA  headquarters is empty by 5pm, and so the opportunity to confront the people who drafted the contract demands and sit in on the negotiations would be lost. What is clear to many members is that TWU Local 100 is not a fighting union. So, workers decided to stick with the September 25 rally and confrontation.
At the rally one speaker made a key point that workers’ wages are always up for negotiation but the MTA bosses always pay the debt service to the banks. It’s the banks and bondholders who control both the MTA and politicians like Cuomo. The MTA will raise fares, demand more from the workers, skimp on upkeep, and cut services in mainly Black and Latin neighborhoods, all so they can pay the banks. That’s capitalism and it has to go. The rally also had politicians who are running for local offices. They pledged to support the MTA workers, but as one worker said, “they seem fake and this what they always do to build for their campaigns.” Rank and file workers are already disgusted with liberal governor Cuomo— even though the union leadership refused to criticize him one bit—as they see him as the guiding hand behind the racist attacks on the work force.
We see the boss together not alone
 One thing that was even clearer to us is that everything boils down to dollars and cents. As MTA workers we regularly joke about just being a number to the bosses, but in the board meeting the actual cost was fitted perfectly on a PowerPoint. You slip, trip or fall?  You went out on comp, got assaulted at work, leave; all of it had the dollar amount and arrows going up or down explaining whether cost was going up, down, or neutral. The idea is to keep costs down, while keeping productivity and profits up.
The takeaway message from the day was that these guys are coming for blood and we have to prepare ourselves for that fight. Progressive Labor Party comrades in the workforce are pushing for more actions around the contract, and a fight against the racist scapegoating fare-beater campaign and the increased police presence on the subways and buses. Coworkers are open to talk more about the contract and what it would take for transit workers to get a better deal. More and more people are bringing up the idea of a strike. Building workers confidence in the working class is a long necessary fight and will continue during contract negotiations and after. It is an opportunity to win leadership for the working class, and to build for a communist society.

The New York Times recently presented the dramatic contrast of a huge choreographed show of Chinese nationalism in Beijing and pitched battles between protesters and police in the streets of Hong Kong. The Beijing spectacle, marking the 70th anniversary of the communist-led revolution in China that established the People’s Republic, was presented by the US capitalist press as a rising danger to be taken seriously. The bosses want to prepare us to fight against the Chinese to save U.S. capitalist domination. Few workers are won to that degree of blind nationalism, at least in the US. What lessons should workers of the world, including Chinese workers, take from this public display of political and military power?
It is important for workers outside China to understand that there are still communists in China. They just don’t run the government anymore. Challenge readers know that the Chinese “Communist” Party (CCP) turned away from communism and socialism and took a sharp turn toward capitalism in the 1970s. China now has the largest economy in the world. It also has a level of inequality on par with the US.
But inside China, Mao Zedong is still an important symbol. Although PLP’s assessment of Mao includes criticisms of some of his decisions, by any measure he was an important revolutionary leader. His death in 1976 gave the “capitalist roaders” inside the CCP the green light to get rich by building their economy along capitalist lines, including openly exploiting workers. To this day when workers go on strike or invade a government office or shut down traffic to protest the latest abuse by Chinese billionaires, these workers carry big pictures of Mao.
Chinese students and intellectuals have joined forces with protesting workers and the Chinese government has responded with a wave of repression of leftist activists not seen in China for decades. The CCP is clearly worried about there being actual communists in the country, especially when they include a growing number of industrial workers. So when the CCP pulls out all the stops to show everyone – in China and outside China – that they are strong and unified, the CCP rulers are also trying to reassure themselves that there won’t be another communist revolution.
So, is Hong Kong some sort of revolutionary upsurge? The NYT would have us believe that Hong Kong protests are about “democracy.” They say Hong Kong citizens are fighting for an alternative to the repressive power of Beijing. Challenge correctly poked a hole in that simplistic bit of wishful thinking by the US billionaires. But is the increasingly intense conflict really “a reactionary, antiworker movement” as the Challenge editorial stated?
I discussed the Challenge article about the Hong Kong protests with a communist friend who has lived and worked in China and in the US for many years. He was surprised at the way our paper called these huge protests “reactionary.” He asked “is any protest that doesn’t call for communism reactionary?”
After seeing the political outcome of the “color revolutions” of Eastern Europe or of the uprisings of the Arab Spring, it is clear that the politics leading any struggle are key. However, I think my friend also has a point. He made this suggestion about analyzing mass uprisings:
“One needs to address the issue of [whether] the movement is making the working class better organized. Did it further raise their class consciousness? Did it make them more militant? These 3 points are my criterion in judging any people's movement. Sometime the 3 are in contradictions, more organized but less militant, or more militant but less class conscious, etc. It's this type of analysis that is more useful than just one dimensional analysis.”Workers in every country should be glad to learn that there are still communists in China. It is very hard to know the size or potential strength of the pro-communist forces inside China today, and there is probably no unified, organized revolutionary party. If there were it would have to be deep underground. In particular, we know very little about the various political factions involved in the Hong Kong rebellion. But there are tens of millions of Chinese who consider themselves communists, many of whom understand that China has become an imperialist country and needs another revolution. Despite many capitalist influences, there must be a range of political groups active in Hong Kong. Unfortunately what gets translated into English is a tiny and biased sample of the reality there.
So while the leadership of the Hong Kong  protests is still overwhelmingy reactionary, there is still potential for the blossoming of a communist workers movement.
Communists in all countries should try to learn from the revolutionary advances made by our class brothers and sisters in other countries. As the billionaires of various capitalist countries make their preparations for the next big war, we need to build our ties with other workers and activists , reaching across the borders the imperialists have drawn on our one world.

In the 2000s, many countries in Latin America had a wave of democratic socialist governments, called the “Pink Tide.” They bought workers’ allegiance and cycnicsm about change, introduced reforms,  and kept the working class tied to the hamster wheel of capitalism. Now, capitalist wars, exploitation, racism, and sexism continue. To eliminate these horrors, workers must overthrow the capitalist class and its government, and replace it with a government dedicated to the working class. That’s communism.    
Rise of Pink Tide
During the 1970s and 1980s, Latin American governments accepted loans from the U.S.-led International Monetary Fund (IMF). When they couldn’t repay the loans, the U.S. forced them to adopt neoliberal austerity, which means deregulation, reduced government spending, layoffs, and privatization of services. Massive demonstrations got Pink Tide politicians elected, promising reforms.  
These politicians espoused “democratic socialism”, or reforming capitalism when in reality they played into the imperialist rivals’ hands. While giving some welfare to workers, they made deals with various capitalists. They demanded more revenues from petrochemical and mining imperialists, either from nationalization or restructured deals with foreign investors.
All Pink Tide countries increased trade and investments with Russia and China. Commodity sales funded cash payments to workers, briefly elevating income.  When prices fell, these payments were cut off, restoring poverty. Workers turned against the Pink Tide politicians.
Venezuela
Venezuela is dependent on oil export income to buy food and manufactured goods abroad.  President Hugo Chavez promised a Bolivarian Revolution.  His reforms included: cash payments to workers, land reform, free medical care, free housing, literacy, etc.  He criticized capitalism, but his government included military leaders and capitalists. Chavez railed against U.S. imperialism, but implemented the IMF’s austerity policies, and maintained the U.S. as Venezuela’s main trading partner.  During 2017, under Chavez’s successor Maduro, inflation reached 1,698,488 percent (Reuters, 2/21/18).
Brazil
The democratic socialist Workers’ Party (PT) had an anti-capitalist platform: cancel international debt, nationalize business, redistribute land, and abolish capitalism.But PT president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva did the exact opposite. He implemented IMF austerity on workers, but invested $343 billion to boost local capitalists.  In contrast, his welfare program cost $10.13 billion a year (Guardian, Dec 17, 2013). Briefly Lula was immensely popular. Lula’s social programs were paid for by exports. When commodity prices dropped causing a recession, payments to workers were cancelled and finally his successor, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached.
Bolivia
Evo Morales of Bolivia led a popular movement against imperialism.   Morales nationalized petrochemical industries to give  $5 billion a year to workers.  As the economy grew, local capitalists benefitted. He simply distributed some export proceeds to buy votes, while assisting the mining industry to encroach on indigenous lands.
Ecuador
 Rafael Correa was elected in the context of mass movements against austerity and mining encroachment on indigenous lands. Correa kicked the U.S. Air Base and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency out of Ecuador, reduced foreign debt by 60 percent, and restructured oil deals.  These revenues allowed payments to workers of $30 per month. By 2009 he openly accepted neoliberal austerity and sided with the mining industry.  Popular protests drove him out of the country in 2017.
Argentina
Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner came to power as “left-wing” Peronists.  Argentina had been the most industrialized country in Latin America. Neoliberal austerity in the 1990’s ended trade barriers, destroying industries and leading to mass unemployment and poverty. A mass piquetero movement of unemployed workers blockaded highways throughout Argentina in 2001-2.  
While promising reforms and restructuring foreign debt, Fernandez cut many social programs.  
Lasting change requires communist revolution
Without ending capitalism, working class reforms are soon lost. The Pink Tide took over existing capitalist governments and gave some crumbs to workers. But workers did not run society; they controlled nothing. Capitalists still controlled the economy, the courts, the parliament, the police, and the army. The capitalists ended the reforms ASAP.
These Pink Tide governments temporarily masked some of capitalism’s ugliness, helping local capitalists stay in power during mass rebellions. They cooperated with local capitalists and supported financial ties with Russian and Chinese imperialists. Reform promotes capitalism.
Progressive Labor Party wants to overthrow capitalism and organize a system of workers’ power dedicated to the betterment of the worldwide working class.  That’s communism.
Learning from history
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez are wooing the working class in the U.S. They promise a $15/hour minimum wage, Medicare for all, free public college, and a Green New Deal. Some workers might benefit. But capitalist reforms are temporary, and more exploitation and profiteering wars are coming. As we fight for reforms, let’s not be distracted from the ultimate goal: a world free of war, racism, sexism, exploitation, and inequality.
We can build a world with housing, jobs, healthcare, education, and more, all run for and by the working class. But not by voting. The bosses won’t let us vote away their money and power. We must destroy capitalism with an organized movement for communist revolution. Join us.

CHICAGO—Over 30 workers here in a south side neighborhood held a spirited rally against a racist Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid that occurred at a business in their community. Two days before, five workers from the Route 66 Pizza restaurant were detained as part of the racist capitalist bosses’ continued  terror campaign against immigrant workers.
As the bosses continue to inflict fear and division on the working class through fascist terror, it is all the more important that workers in all parts of the world react quickly and organize to counter their attacks. At the same time, these attacks are a logical consequence of an economic system based on profit, racism, and war. Comrades from Progressive Labor Party (PLP) were active in organizing this rally and shared the message that freedom from fascist terror is achieved by smashing the profit system with communist revolution!
Workers mount a rapid response
On the morning of September 23rd, ICE unexpectedly raided the restaurant, detaining four men and one woman. Although little was known in regards to details of the racist raid, PLP comrades and other workers knew we had to mount a rapid response. Two days later, on Wednesday, a rally was organized in front of the restaurant.
The restaurant is located by a busy intersection and the overwhelming majority of workers driving past responded positively by honking and raising their fists in solidarity with the protesters. In addition to honking in support, a number of workers from the community even parked their cars and came to join the rally in support of their fellow workers.
Instead of being an action dominated by liberal professional organizers and Democrat/ fake leftist political misleaders, the rally had a much more grassroots character. Workers from the community saw other workers taking a stand, and felt a more organic sense of empowerment to participate.
Over the course of the rally, individuals took to the bullhorn to talk about their personal ties to the detained workers and the emotional toll the attack has taken on them. Other workers spoke about immigrant workers’ motivations for fleeing capitalist violence in different parts of the world and their general opposition to ICE terrorizing working-class communities.
Smash racist borders with internationalism
Initially there were some nationalist chants, but attempts to sharpen them with chants reflecting an internationalist outlook were well received. For example, when one worker said “Viva Mexico” and “Viva los Estados Unidos,” a comrade quickly responded with “¡Viva internacionalismo!” and instead of push back, there was general agreement. We also began designing posters with more pro-working class and international messages such as “ICE: Stop Terrorizing Our Communities,” “Workers United Against Racism,” and “Asian, Latin, Black, and White; Workers of the World Unite.” Community members and comrades started leading unifying chants such as “Obreros unidos jamás serán vencidos” and “Escucha! Escucha! Estamos en la lucha!”
A PL’er made a short speech in which he encouraged workers to keep taking an active stand against the capitalist bosses’ racist attacks and the need to constantly organize for workers’ power. He explained that the intense violence against immigrant workers and refugees is a consequence of the economic and political crises that are inevitable under capitalism. He finished by calling for workers to fight for communist revolution as the only way to guarantee a life of security for our class.   
Almost everyone in attendance, especially the workers from the neighborhood, were eager to take a copy of CHALLENGE and share contact information. A follow-up protest was planned for the following Monday, and PL’ers are in contact with workers from the community.
Workers lose when liberals win
Although much of the pushback against current anti-immigrant racism is directed at Trump, these racist attacks are a problem of capitalism, and liberal politicians are just as guilty. Former Deporter-in-Chief Barack Obama set a new standard of anti-immigrant racism, deporting over three million workers over the course of his presidency (Wall Street Journal, 8/3). New “progressive” Mayor Lori Lightfoot was quick to tweet how much she “cared” about the safety of immigrant workers after the raid, but has refused for months to sign an executive order that would deny federal agents access to city databases (Chicago Sun-Times, 7/11).
All of these politicians back capitalism at the end of the day. They will only make fake efforts to ensure justice for our class. The designations of “documented” and “undocumented” workers serve the capitalists by dividing workers so that they can super-exploit certain workers’ labor for maximum profits. These divisions then act as an anchor to hold down the entire working class. Liberalism is a losing strategy – we organize to destroy this racist profit system, its borders, and its inequality in favor of an egalitarian communist society!
Join PLP in the fight for communist revolution! All power to the international working class!